Does Anyone Make a Small Pickup? From Car Talk

http://www.dispatch.com/content/sto...-still-make-a-smaller-basic-pickup-truck.html


This pretty much sums up the state of pick-up trucks in the US. The comments are interesting; the Ford Ranger seems more popular than the Tacoma

 

Thus is the reason I still have a 1st generation Tacoma. Ford went to aluminum bodies (YUK) , Chevy's are...well Chevy's. And all the others are boats.

 

Nobody wants one, and if they did, they'd want the biggest version of it they can get.

Hence.. where we are today.

Luckily there's a used car and truck market full of cheap, basic trucks one can buy to their hearts content instead of griping about not being able to buy a brand new, expensive version on the internet.

 

If you live North of the Mason Dixon line and East of the Rockies, you appreciate the implications of a vehicle that won't lose panels to body rust. My parents have a 10 year old Subaru that probably won't see another year on the road despite only having 120k or so and zero mechanical problems. Too much rust.

 

Strange you should say that, because I don't see vehicles body rust like they used to years ago. I feel today's cars have made improvements in body rust, that my only concern would be frame rust, which seems to be the same or maybe a little better, but the Tacoma definitely seems unchanged.

 

Now it's the frames instead of the bodies, haha.

 

I can't remember seeing a car with a lot of body rust, like I used to years ago because it was so common.